Mechanism for feeding cigars in vending-machines.



PATENTED JAN. 80, 1906. J. HEINRICH, J. SCHMIDT & G. L. ETHERIDGE. MECHANISM FOR FEEDING CIGARS IN VENDING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED APILS, 1905.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 811,396. PATENTED JAN. 30,1906 J. HEINRICH, J. SCHMIDT & G. L. ETHERIDGE. MECHANISM-FOR FEEDING CIGARS IN VENDING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED APR.3, 1905.

4: SHEETSSHEET 2.

\ PATENTED JAN. 30, 1906. J. HEINRICH, J. SCHMIDT ($2: G. L. ETHERIDGE.

MECHANISM FOR FEEDING CIGARS IN VENDING MACHINES.

' APPLICATION FILED APR.3, 1905.

4 SHEETS-8mm 3.

PATENTED JAN. 30, 1906. J. HBINRIOH, 5.. SGHMIDT & 0. L. ETHERIDGE.

MECHANISM FOR FEEDING CIGARS IN VENDING MACHINES.

' APPLICATION FILED APR. 3, 1905.

1 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

ll diil llilil'll hlithibiiil tll'llr, MlSESOUlil.

tannin ii -"on e or nose.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 36, limit.

Application filed April 3, 1905. Serial No. 253,415.

To (116/1 iii/tom it may concern:

Tile it known that JonN Humidor], JOHN hloninn'r, and CARROLL L. ETH'ERIDGE, citizens of the United States, residing at liiansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and use ful improvements in Mechanism "for Feeding Cigars in Vendingdvlachines; and we 'do hereby declare the following to be a lull, clear, and exact description. of the invention, such as will on able others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention which forms the subject of this patent is directed to the productionv of a cigar-vending machine in which novel mechanisrn is provided, for feeding cigars one by oneirom a box in cooperative relation with a coin-controlled revoluble cylinder by which the cigars are received and delivered, and in the claims appended hereto will be pointed out the parts and combinations of parts which constithtc our invention.

The following description, read in connection with the accompanying drwings, will enable any one skilled in coin-controlled vending niachines to understand our invention and to practice it in the form in yfhich we prefer to employ it; but it will be understood that our invention is not limited to the prccise form and details of construction herein illustrated and described, as various modifications and changes may be made without exceeding the scope of the cla ms in which our invention is set out.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 shows in vertical section a machine organized and adapted for vending cigars in which the delivery niechanisin is actuated by a five-cent nickel of United States coinage and e1nboclying novel mechanism whereby the cigars are fed to the delivery-cylinder, the plunger be ing shown in its normal osition. Fig. 2 shows in elevation a plate 'lX6(l to the inner sidewall of the casing-and containing the .plunger,the parts actuated by the nickel for ocking and unlockingthe plunger and the nickel being shown in the position ust before being pressed down to unlock the plunger. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing'the plunger as having been unlocked and the locking device automatically hcld in position to be tripped by the plunger to again lock it, the iraud preventivc device being seen in i igsil in its iorinal position. Fig. a

vertical section on the line i 4c of Fig. 5, showing the mechanism "for actuating the fraurb preventive device and for rotating the (le livery-cylinder. Fig. 5 a transverse ver tical. section on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1, sh'mving the manner of supporting the operating parts of the machine on the inner side wall of the casing. Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view on the line 6 6 of Fig. 4, showing the outlet of the passage indicated by the arrow for the nickel and the base passage for load. and iron disks. Fig. 7 shows a clamp for holding the cigar box in proper position against the tension of aspring, as seen in Fig. l where by the box free to yield inward to prevent binding the cigars. liig. 8 is a detail side view illustrating the means for preventing'the operation of the delivery of acigar when a lead disk or slug isused and causing it to pass through the machine by the releasing action of the plunger in its retracting movement. Fig. 9 shows the nickel-receiving slot and the delivery slot'i'or the s urious disks. 10 a View like Fig. 8, s lowing the parts in the position they occupy when the lead disk has been released by the retracting n'iovei'nent of the plunger. F 11 is a top view showing the oscillating teed device. Fig. 12 is aside view showing the means "for operating the feed de vice from the delivery-cylinder and the relation of such feed device to the chute and the supply.

At the front of and within a suitable casing is mounted a rotatable cylinder 1, into )0- riphcral pockets 2 of which the cigars are led one at a time and from which they are delivcred, and for this purpose the surface of the cylinder" is formed with a plurality oi parallel equidistant grooves of a depth and shape to serve as pockets to receive and hold the cigars as they are led from a box 3, supported. in the casing in an upward inclined position, so that tho cigars will be fed by gravity from its open end against the rear side and upper portion.

of the cylinder, so that the latter, in etlect,

forms a rotating closure for the open end of the box. At its front the casing has an inchned part l, of glass, to expose the cigar to 'view as it is being delivered by the rotation of the cylinder. The top of the casing may also be or glass to expose the cigars in the box, the top of which is open. The device whereby the cigars are led one at a time from the box into the cylinder-peckets and which casing, and the coin-slot 6 is thereby con-- veniently located at the side of that part of the casing at which the cigar is presented to View and which is at the upper portion of the c linder. From this coin-slot extends on a s ightly-downward incline the runway or passage 7 for the nickelor other disk 8, while beneath the cylinder and in vertical alinement withsaid coin-passage is the horizontal plun ger 5, slidably supported within a guidew ay on the casingavah, and has its hand-actuated end 9 projecting at the front of the machine.

The path of the plunger intersects a vertical branch 10 of the nickel-passage, and at such intersection the plunger has a pushing and displacing action upon the nickel. A spring 11,

aving one end connected to the plunger and the other end to the casing, serves to retract and hold the plunger in its normal position, as in Fig. 4. A shoulder 12 at the handle end of the plun er serves to limit its inward movement, while a stop 13 on the plunger, adapted to engage its guide 14, serves to limit the outward movement of the plunger.

The inward movement of the plunger causes the rotation of the delivery-cylinder always in the same direction, and the means for effecting this rotation will now be stated. The shaft 15 of the cylinder is mounted in the side walls of the casin and between the latter and the end of the. cylinder a 'ratchetwheel 16 is fixed on the shaft, having teeth corres ending in number to the grooves of the de ivery-cylinder.

Pivotally mounted on the plunger within the casing is an arm 17, which extends above the plunger and is ada ted to engage one tooth of the ratchet-wlieel each time the plunger is ushed inward to turn said wheel and the delivery-cy1inder a part of a revolution. In the illustration there are six grooves or pockets in the delivery cylinder and the same number of teeth in the ratchetwheel, so that each inwardmovement of the plunger will cause the said arm 17 to move the cylinder one-sixth of a revolution, and at each of said movements of the cylinder a cigarwill be released and drop to a receivingtrough 18 and pass out'a front ojpenin 'to the purchaser. T is normal position of t e pivoted arm 17 is vertical, and so normally maintained by its lower weighted end, while'the pushing, action of the upper end 19 of said arm to rotate said wheel is sustained by a etc 13 on the plun er. The upper en of sai arm 17 is beve ed to allow it to pass freely under the teeth of the wheel on the retracting movement of the plunger. The

plunger is normally locked against inward movement by mechanism comprising a bolt 20, supported by wall-guides 21, with its lower end adapted to engage by gravity a shoulder 22 on the upper ed e of-the plunger, as in Fig. 2, to lock it. At its upper end the bolt is connected to one end ;ol a lever23, pivoted to the wall and having at its other end a pivoted key 24, which stands within an opening in the bottom of the nickel-passage,- and in its normal or raised position partially closes the entrance to the nickel-slot, as in Fig. 2.

'We prefer to hang and support the bolt 20 in a slightly-inolined position, so that its lower end will stand in advance of its upper end, and thereby cause its lower end to fall back by gravity in the raised position of the bolt to hold it up out of engagement with the plunger, and for this purpose the lower end of the bolt has a recess or shoulder by which it is adapted to fall into engagement with a lug 21 of the bolt-guide, as in Fig. 3.

In the locked position of the plunger the nickel-actuated key is lifted by the weight of the bolt members and held in position, partially closing the entrance to the coinslo t, so that the key willreceive the coin or other disk and be pressed down by the act of inserting it, forcing thereby the key down out of the slot to allow the coin to be put into the passage. This depression of the key actuates the bolt members, so as to cause the bolt to be raised and release its engagement with the plunger. In this lifting of the bolt its lower end is free to swing back by gravity, and this movement brings its shoulder into engagement with the fixed guidc lug 21 and holds the bolt in its unlocked position. The

bolt is returned to'its normal or lower locked pos1t1on by means of a tappet 25, pivoted on the side wall at the rear of the bolt and havmg a weighted arm 26, adapted to be struck by the locking-shoulder 2'2 of the plunger when the latter is pushed inward. In" this engagement of the plunger with the hanging arm of the tappet its upper arm 25 is caused to strike the rear edge of the bolt, and thereby throw or push the latter forward, disengaging its shoulderfrom the lug and allowing the bolt to drop on the plunger behind itsshoulder 22-to lock it when the plunger is forced outward by its spring. In this wa plunger will be released from its locke positioi by a five-cent nickel or any similar disk held in the hand of the operator to depress the kc and allow the plunger to be pushed inwar but this manipulation of the plunger will not cause the movement of the deliverycylind'er, since the latter is provided with locking mechanism which can only be released by a coin of the required character.. Th1 s cylinder-locking mechanism comprises a lever 27, preferabl of bell-crank form, fulcrumed upon a wa l-stud 28 at the rear side the V shaft to hold the cylinder eoinu'eceivor, and for this ethane of the delivery-cylinder. The hanging arm of this lever terminates in a tooth 29, which is adapted to successively enter periiheral notches 30 of a disk 31, fixed on the cylinder from rotaryinovement. The notches of this disk are oquidistant and correspond with. the grooves in the cylinder, so that the lock is GillGClJi-Bd for each movement of the latter to deliver a cigar. A. weightfid arm 27 of the lover insures the engagement of its tooth with the notches of the disk at each movement of the cylinder.

The coin runway or passage, the plunger, the .fraud preventive mechanism, and the cylinder locking niechaniinn are arranged, supported, and housedbetweon plates 32 and 33, secured to the casing, and looking at Figs; 2 and 3 will be seen that the coin-passage which has the coin-slot extends from the slot to the rear of the casing and is intersected at the Ne s the cylinder by a vertical branch 10, ivhiclfterminatesin the path of the plunger and extends a short distance rearward in said. path.

The following" description willehow the cooperating Junction of the plunger in its op oration oi the delivery-cylindcr in ellecting the release of the .cylinder-locki11g mechanism only through the instruinental'ity ol the required or proper coin. {it a point about the upper rea'eorner of theintersection of the vertical Witlrthe tor ninalcoin-passage and between. the said hoiising-plates is pivoted a dog 35, which stands toward the inner end ol the plunger and terminatesin a sharp point 36, which hangs in the path of the coin as it drops in the path of the plunger for a purpose presently stated. link in? connects the free end of this dog with the Weighted. arm 27 of the hell-crank lever, so that the lifting of the shar. point oi the dog by the passage thereun or by the coin in the manner herein-- after described will cause the said weighted arm to he raised by its eonnectedlink 37, and thereby cause the toothed arm 29 of said lever to be withdrawn from its engagement with the notch. in the cyliudendisk to permit the cylinder to be turned. The lover is returned by its Weighted arm to ltSllOIJJlfil po* sition against the cylinder to engage the nent notehol' the disk after the irnpaling-dog if released. The,coin-passage .in rear oi the dog terminates in a bottom outlet 39, through. which the proper coin drops into a purpose this dropopening an is outside of and independent of other passages, through which spurious coins or disks pass. The machine organized as do scrihed can only be operated by genuine nickels, .lJBJilfllSQ the nickel havin' been forced into the nickel slot and ropped through the vertical passage 10 is arrested in the path of the plungen and suppgrted u )on a latch device so, inv WlllChPOSllllOD the p unnor is then caused'to strike and move the coin beneath the sharp point of the dog, and the nickel "being of hard ipei'zal will. not he named or impaled. by the point oi the dog, ut will thereiore he forced under it and out of the drop-passage 89, lifting the dog; in. pass-- ingheneath it and by such lilting release the lever-lock of the delivery-cylinder. in. this ejectinent of the genuine nickel thedog rid over it and unlocks the cylinder by the direct action of the plungeiywhile the coin-aetuated bolt device releases the lock of the plunger in .advance of the release of the cylimlerdock to allow the phnigenarm 17 to engage a tooth of the ratchet-wheel 16 to turn the deliverycylinder one-sixth of a revolution to deliver a cigar. In this operation the latch device 40 serves no other purpose than to su iport the nickel in the path oi thoplungor, and so longas genuine nickels are used the operation of the machine is unchanged. Vi e have, however, made provisi on for prevent ii 1;; fr and in operating the machine with. lead disks, and thus prevent the delivery the goods, and. for this purpose We utilize this latch de vice, as will. now he descrilwd. This latch is pivoted. to the wall--plate at an opening in the bottom of the plunger-guideway and has a lip 4:1, which stands up and forms a stop on which the lead disk is dropped from the vertical passage and supported,- as shown by dotted. lines in Fig. A weighted dog 42, pivoted to said wall-plate in front ol the lptclnengages a nose projection d3 of the latch and serves to support it in position to hold the load disk in the path of the plunger, as'in Fig. .2.

To move the latch from its leinl-disk-supporting position by turning it on its p'iiuot toward the front to allow the lead disk to drop through said opening, the latch is provided with: a pin 44-, with which an arm. 4.3, having a notch 4:6, caused. to engage, so to pull the latch forward by the retracting movement the plunger, and for this pur pose said arm 45 is pivotally connected, to the plunger, in Fig. l, and acts by gravity to engage the latch. To render this engage merit of the art; 45 with the latcl'npin l l oer-- tain, the notched end of said arm. rests and rides upon said pin, and this end of the arm is held by its weight and a guide-loop 47 upon the pin, so that as this arni is drawn out by the 1plunger the notch in said arin drops over t in, and thus pulls the latch from under the lead disk. I

lit will thus he seen that a genuine nickel and a lead disk take the same course as indicated by the arrows in full lines in Fig. 2 and both are arrested by the latch. When, how ever, the plunger is pushed in instead of forcing the slug or lead disk rearward under the dog, the plunger will force the lead disk against the sharp point of the dog, causing it thereby to penetrate the soft metal, as inh ig. 8, and bind the leaddisk in the opening or space between its edge and the lip olhtho notch. This prevents the wish 1 of the dog, and the cylindenreleasing mechanism does not operate, so there can be no delivery of the cigar. The pushing for e oi the plunger being at its limit, on its retracting movement the notched arm is thereby drawn into engagement with the pin of'the latch, and the latter is thereby drown fort 'a rd and the lead disk or slug is released from its sup port and will drop into the oose-passage 48 and pass to the front 34 of said It will be noted that the nose of the latch and the end of the Weighted dog have in curved bearing ei'igngement, so that as the latch is pulled back it slides on the end of the dog and depresses said end, so that as the plunger is movedl orwurd the arm is thereby disengaged, and the weighted dog returns to its normal position of rest. At the inner end of the plunger rises o lug +1.9, which serv as a safety-stop, so that if from any cause the plunger should be released from its lock witln out forcing a genuine nickel in the slot to cotuetc the plungerdock (as by a. wire or o device) the plunger-lug will strike I but willnot-liftitflvhentheblunger s inshi-i. in, and thus prevent the opernaoin oi e inder-rcleesing nicelinn' ii an? of the cylinder, so thnt tli cry.

:[t is important to note it: tion ol the nnichine it not only hills to o when. a lead disk .is used, but auto not: ejects such disk instead of permittin pass to the genuine-coin receptacle, I. the two coactinglocking devices or; 1 one for controlling the operation of ger or push-hm: and the other for soul the rotary movement of the deliveiw w. both by the d rect action of the j These two separate and distinct locks are r leased successively by a live-cent nickel, the first at the entrance of the nickel-slot and the second near the exit-opening of the nickel, The nickel is seen in Fig. 2 as having been placed by the operator upon the upper inclined end of" the key, which partially closes its ei'itrnnce, so that the operator presses upon the nickel, which thereby causes the depression of the key, and thus allows the nickel to be inserted. To facilitate the entrance of the nickel into the slot, the end of the key is inclined inward and upward, so that pressure on the nickel has n wedge action upon the key in depressing it.

Ne will now describe the mechanism whereby the cigars are led into the pockets of the delivery-cylinder. Above the cylinder, and preferably vertically in line with its rear side, is mounted a. shaft 59, on which is lixcd an oscillating or rocking feed dcvicc, preforably of a pair of heads or arcs 60, inn/mg convex peripheries, so that the r acting periphcries or sides will overhang lllO chute and proa little within the open end of the box Y er each side, so that the cigars will by ny he caused to rest against said heads. or arcs. The downward movement of the arcs serve to roll and feed the cigars fronlthe box, while the upward movement of the arcs serve to: roll and agitate the cigars upward tokeep them loose and tree to roll. down on thedoww. ward movement of the are feeders to. deliver them one by one in succession into gnoove or pocket in the delivery cylinder itis rotat-ed, carrying thecigsrs up and over end. delivering them at the front side of thoncyh inder. For this purpose chutefilis ranged to form an extension of th bCXfiUiiErr. port standing downward ahonton incline with t is bot-torn of l 1 d t rninoting at Y e cirenniterei he cylinde about on n h p tel line tn its, "Hi8, that as the s turnedits r sch pocket the h the are I the h-FCS. Pref.

':.1ed by e mediate hereby cigars '.ve inovetchet wheel tooth 67, zidzipted to enga-g'ethe teeth of the cylinder ratchet-wheel ended 1:

gaging the depending end of the 64 of the Feed device. so that Silidll'ill] will constnnt'ly tend to maintain the lfltfil'ifitvfllfil 66 in engngcznent with the teeth of the ratchetwliool of the cylinder. The engagement of tho ratchet-arm with the teeth of the ratchetwhecl and the engagement of the ratchetrm with the arm of the feed device are such that the turning oi the cylinder toward the front will cause the teeth of the ratchet-wheel ol' the cylinder to not as cums upon the tooth of the ratchet-arm and force it rearward each movement of the cylinder, and thereby cause the itl'lll of the food device to be moved rear-- word, thcreby causing the roar sides of the 7 m H l .C owes edges:

@Til tillltl loose, While the tooth oi the ratehet arm moving suddenly oil the sharp apex of the tooth of the ratchet-Wheel allows the springactuated fecderm to be'suddenly pulled for- Ward,.and thereby cause the feed-arcs to be suddenly moved downward, rolling a cigar from. the concave chute into the cylinder pocket. .This feed movement of the arcieads is limited by the extent of the inovement of the ratchet-arm; The feed arcs or heads are secured upon their shaft by cla1npscrews 68, whereby the heads may be adjusted to suit the rocking movements of their shaft and their relation to the chute. The arc-heads are preferably of rubber with corrugated peripheries the better to take hold of the cigars and prevent'slipping. The concave chute has end guards 69 to keep the cigars in roper endwise relation. to the cylinder-poc acts.

in agitating the cl ars by upward rolling movements they are .iablc to become out of parallel relation, to rise at the ends, and to roll over the toi of the feed device, and to prevent this a plurality of fingers or wires 70 are attached to the upper end oi the box, so as to extend down and freely lie upon. and across the ends oftlie cigars at the feed end of the box, keeping them down level and preventing them. from piling up against the arc tleeders. For this purpose the Wires are preferably loosely attached to the upper end of thi-i her. and are of sullieiont weight to keep the cigars smooth and allow the wires free r upon the cigars as they roll down in the he at jarring .l'nOVUlilQllb of the plum 'lliese wires ins-y be attached by a clamp "("1 to the up end of the box.

" lie cigar-dun; m be eupportciil by any wtllC means. A. own, it is sup 'mrtcd Ki l, secured to the sides ol' the old the box in proper relation :ylinder, an that the cigars l'roin, a clamp 'ilatc d einl oi said box. t is connecl'ie il. by a so that the he}: is ion to the (lclivery--cyliz'zthe the the erg. "s

ind there ppcr cle 1i: i tel the front receptacle. This diversion of a steel or iron sing or disk from the path or the re uired nickel prevents the operation of the de ivery-c vlinder and no deliver of a cigar results. lit will be understood that the several passages for the nickel and for the slugs are narrow channels, through which the niclrels and slugs roll edgevvise.

Except l'or the purposes of the combine trons herenia'fter set forth in the claims We do not in the Letters Patent to be issued on.

application claim the inventions in the coinactuated mechanisms iorvending articles and described and shown herein, as such matters are shown, described, and made the subject of claim in an application filed by us of date November 24, 1904;, under Serial No. 234,033 the claims of this patent being solely directed to the mechanism for feeding cigars from a box and delivering thorn by a rotating cylinder.

We claini--- 1.. In a vending-inachine, a grooved delivery cy'linder, a supplyrceeptaclo, a chute for the articles, a cylindrical feed device arranged above the chute and overhanging the grooved cylinder, means for causing said cylinder to rotate in one direction only, and n'ieans for causing the feed device to have. movements in reverse directions upon the cigars above the cylinder.

2. In a vending-machine, a grooved delivery-cylinder, a su ply-receptacle, a chute tor the articles, a feec device ar'anged above the chute and overhanging the grooved cylinder and comprising a pair of heads or arcs each. having a yielding icedingeurince, means for TIGHT;

causing; said cylinder to rotate in. one direc It. in a vendiin livery-cyliiidcr liavin il'.

inning rolling .niio lcin and means for ca sing lien and positive re movement to place r.

1 it. vcndin l and. a and lul'llll i fi; artni'ile l said o;

to said cylinder, means whereby the down movement is positively controlled to cigar in a groove, and means for slide justing said heads toward and from each other on said shaft.

5. In a vendingmiachine, a supply-receptacle for the articles, a revoluble eliverycylinder having a plurality of lon itudinal grooves, a feeder dGVlCu mounted shove the cylinder, and means for oscillating or rock ing said feed device consisting of a ratchet- Wheel carried by said cylinder, at ratchet-arm engaging the teeth of said Wheel, an arm fixed to said rockingfeeder device engaging the ratchet arm, and a spring connecting the feeder-arm for maintaining it in contact with said ratchet-arm and the latter in contact with said XQtlJChBtT'WhQP/I, Whereb' the rotation of the cylinder causes the osci leting or rocking movement of the feeder device to feed the articles into the grooves and to agitate the for rocking feed device mounted above the chute and the cylinder, and a plurality of fingers or Wires mounted on the box and lying upon the articles for the purpose stated.

In testimony whereof We have signed our names to this specification in the presence of .two subscribing Witnesses.

JOHN HEINRICH.

JOHN SCHMIDT. r CARROLL L. ETHER-IDGE. Witnesses:

F. W. FRANKLIN, CARR-in CARDWELL. 

